Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Green Member of the European Parliament representing Germany, praises the appointment of Michaela Moua as the first Anti-Racism Coordinator at the European Commission, and what she expects from the history-making appointee ——- Cultural Diversity in the European Institutions The European Commission has appointed Michaela Moua as its first anti-racism coordinator. I am delighted that she has been …

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has announced that the new national carrier is expected to commence operation by the first quarter of 2022. Sirika disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja. He explained that the new national carrier is long overdue and the private sector-run airline will be …

German-based Afrocentric startup Deutsch Connect has secured a €100,000 investment fund in partnership with Idea Seed Africa. The “Deutsch – Africa Pitch” challenge is exclusively for Startups within the Deutsch Connect – Idea Seed Africa network in Agritech, Healthtech, Fintech, Digitalisation and Logistics offering up to €100,000 in equity investment to build and scale successful businesses that add value to …

The European Commission has appointed a former professional basketball player, Michaela Moua, as its first-ever Anti-Racism Co-ordinator, adding that the newly created post was in line with its anti-racism action plan. Ms Moua, a Finnish national of African origin, said she was “extremely excited about this opportunity to achieve real justice” in her reaction to the appointment, which was announced …

All Passport Issuing Centres have been directed to clear existing backlog of applications on or before 31st May, 2021. To this effect requests for Fresh and/or Reissue shall not be entertained with effect from 18th May 2021-31st May 2021 in all Centres except for locations in the Missions abroad. Notifications for collection of produced Passports are already going out to …

The European Union has spoken out in defence of Spain, after thousands of migrants from Morocco entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in north Africa. “Europe expresses its solidarity with Ceuta and Spain,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday (18 May), in a tweet. At least 6,000 migrants, including mothers cradling children and whole families, reached …

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 18 May 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Much has been written about the importance of advancing digital literacy on the African continent, especially among its younger citizens. With more than half of the world’s under-25s expected to live in Africa by 2050, mobilising and inspiring this youthful population to be active participants in the global digital economy is …

Germany has agreed to return all Benin artefacts by 2022. The artefacts are those taken from the Benin Royal Court following the British incursion in 1849. This was announced on Tuesday at a press briefing in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The event was attended by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; and the German delegation. …

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede, on Tuesday said the turnaround time for issuance of passports is now six weeks. The service’s Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists. James quoted Babandede as saying this at the NIS headquarters in Abuja during a media chat on Innovations and Administration for …

The German-Nigerian gospel singer Joyce Ejiogu-Schmeer is sending a powerful message to sceptics with her new book. Trapped in the Dark is the first of a planned series of autobiographical accounts of the life of the song writer, recording and performing artist. Trapped in the Dark dwells on her childhood and adolescence in her native Nigeria, covering her time in …

United Airlines has launched its new service to Accra, Ghana, from Washington DC, United States. The American carrier now operates a thrice-weekly service to the West African city from Dulles International. Flight UA996 is scheduled to leave Dulles International Airport at 18:15 every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday each week to land at Kotoka International Airport at 08:40 the next morning. …

Ministry of Primary Education of the Republic of Cameroon will receive 1 mln licenses of Russian MyOffice software. The memorandum was signed during a business mission held in the country, which entailed a series of meetings at the highest state level —- MOSCOW, Russia, May 17, 2021/ — MyOffice, the Russian developer of office software for joint work on documents …

New entry regulations that make life easier for travellers entered into force on Thursday. The new regulation is the most far-reaching relaxation of rules for arriving passengers since the beginning of the pandemic in Germany last year. The federal cabinet passed the new rules, which are also intended to standardise the regulations of individual federal states and make travelling within …

Achare Takor*, a lawyer, takes a look at Section 124b of the General Tax Code of the Republic of Cameroon and how it sets to promote innovative ICT start-ups in the country by offering them incentives ————- DOUALA, Cameroon, May 13, 2021/ — By Achare Takor Over the last decade, information technologies (IT) have revolutionized the way people and businesses …

New international report on COVID-19 in Africa shows why the impact of the pandemic on the continent has been underestimated until now and outlines what has to be done in light of limited vaccine supply and mounting threat of new virus variants —–New York, USA – 12 May, 2021 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- As the world battles new COVID-19 variants and …

The term “race” will remain in the Basic Law for the time being. The plan to delete the controversial word from the German constitution is being blocked by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) announced in Berlin on Monday. Contrary to initial plans, the federal cabinet should have approved the deletion on Wednesday, but it was …

A German privacy regulator banned Facebook on Tuesday from gathering data on WhatsApp users, citing an update to its privacy policy that breaches EU data protection rules by allowing access to a lot more information on the messenger app’s users. The Hamburg data protection officer (Landesdatenschutzbeauftragter), Johannes Caspar, wants to ensure by order that no data from the chat service …

The issue of accommodation provision for individuals seeking asylum within a country has recently been a topic heavily discussed in the field of immigration studies. In contribution to this, a new report by British Red Cross has highlighted how the UK asylum system is deeply flawed, and has caused increasingly negative impacts on the mental health of individuals seeking asylum. …

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has announced that Nigerians living abroad who have difficulties renewing their expired passport and want to travel home could do so with the document. Aregbesola said government was conscious of the difficulties Nigerians were experiencing with passport renewal due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it was committed to alleviating the situation. “It is …

Nigerians in the diaspora have an opportunity to own houses in the country and also participate actively in money and capital markets, thanks to several investment packages rolled out by Ecobank. Mrs. Olukorede Demola-Adeniyi, Head of Ecobank’s Consumer Banking, has said that the bank is offering mortgage loans to Nigerians living abroad to finance property ownership in the country. She …